Suction gun for aquatic life



Feb. 1, 1966 E. M. SHUGARMAN SUCTION GUN FOR AQUATIC'LIFE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 27. 1963 INVENTOR. I224 M. s/ma/ze/wm/ MM; TZ/F Aime/WW Feb. 1, 1966 E. M. SHUGARMAN SUCTION GUN FOR AQUATIC LIFE Filed June 27, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 11!. 56 06/4244! BY w'roe/vn Feb. 1, 1966 E. M. SHUGARMAN 3,231,997

SUCTION GUN FOR AQUATIC LIFE Filed June 27. 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 I I I I II INVENTOR. 15224111. 5406024414 50.13 Lg-(Z4; c

Feb. 1, 1966 E. M. SHUGARMAN SUCTION GUN FOR AQUATIC LIFE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 2'7, 1963 RM 4 m m M Z M m z w V4 r W m w 4 y 5 sm M e w Q3 Am \NN \Q\ q QN\\ United States Patent 3,231,997 SUCTION GUN FOR AQUATIQLIFE Earl M. Shugarman, Monterey Park, Calif., assignor to W. J. Voit Rubber Corp., a corporation of California Filed June 27, 1963, Ser. No. 291,038 6 Claims. (Cl. 43-4) This invention relates to underwater suction guns which are used for trapping fish by skin or scuba divers.

More particularly, this invention relates to an underwater suction gun having a central storage chamber and means for operating such gun by first positioning the piston of the gun into a cocked position and then triggering said piston when the gun is placed close enough to the fish to be caught with this gun so that the fish 1s first sucked into a barrel of the gun and then transferred from the barrel or the pump portion of the gun into the storage chamber. A rubber tube pulls the piston to create a strong water current in direct Vicinity of the muzzle of the barrel, thus sucking the fish into the barrel of the gun, whereupon the caught fish is transferred into the central chamber, or cylinder, of the gun. The device is called a gun for lack of a better term because, like a regular gun, it has a front barrel, a cylinder in the rear of the gun, a trigger, etc., and it creates a sudden flow of the fluid upon release of the trigger. Another term which is not any better than gun, would be a suction pump. In industry, devices of this kind are called and known as slurp guns. Slurp appears only in unabridged dictionaries.

It is an object of this invention to provide a suction gun having a rotatable front barrel, a rotatable or a stationary cylinder, and a pump for creating a suction current through the barrel and the pump aligned with the barrel.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a gun of the above type which has the barrel at the front portion of the gun, and extending through the cylinder, the cylinder being located at the mid-portion of the gun and'the piston and cylinder pump at the opposite end of the gun for creating suction with the aid of said piston, with the barrel being permanently fastened to the cylinder and rotatable with the cylinder around the pump for discharging caught fish from the pump into the cylinder where it is kept until one is ready to take it out of the gun altogether. An additional object of this invention is to provide a gun of the above type in which the barrel extends through the cylinder and rotates within a second tube, the tube and the barrel being provided with large alignable openings for discharging caught fish into the central storage chamber through such aligned openings.

FIGURE .1 is a perspective view of the first version of the gun;

FIGURES 2, 3 and 4 are longitudinal sections of the gun taken on plane 22 of FIG. 1 with the gun elements being illustrated in three diiferent operating positions;

FIGURES 5 and 7 are two transverse sections of the gun taken in one transverse plane '5-5 and 77, the position of this plane being indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken on plane 66 of FIG. 5;

FIGURE 8 is a side view, partly in section, of the barrel and of the central storage chamber after these elements have been removed from the gun;

FIGURES 9, 10 and 11 are three longitudinal sectional views of another version of the gun with the elements of the gun being positioned in three diiferent operating positions to illustrate the functioning of the gun;

FIGURE 12 is an end view of the pump cylinder of the gun taken in plane 1212 and in the direction illustrated in FIG. 10;

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FIGURE 13 is a side view, partly in section, of a connection between a bolt and a rubber tube used for connecting the two ends of the tube in the gun illustrated in FIGS. 9 through 11, 14 and 15;

FIGURES 14 and 15 are two longitudinal sections of still another version of the gun;

FIGURES 16 through 19 are transverse sections of the gun taken in planes 16 and 17, respectively, illustrated in FIGS. 14and 15 FIGURE 20'is an end view of the pump cylinder of the gun taken in the direction of the arrows illustrated in FIG. 15.

Referring to FIGS. 1 through 8, the gun includes a barrel 10 permanently connected to a central storage chamber 12, barrel 10 extending through the entire length of chamber '12, as illustrated in FIG. 8. The central chamber is provided with a ring 11 and a disc 13. Disc '13 closes the front portion of ring 11 and in this manner provides a central storage chamber with the aid of a rear disc 14. Disc 14 is provided with a plurality of openings 15 to keep chamber 12 filled with water as long as the gun is under water. Disc 14 is permanently and rigidly connected to a pump portion 16 of th gun, which includes a cylinder 17, a piston 18 with an O ring 19, a push rod 20 and a handle 21. The rear end of the cylinder 17 is closed off by a disc 22 which is provided with a cent-rally located opening 23. Push rod 20 passes through opening 23, and therefore, opening 23 also acts as a means for keeping piston 18 and push rod 20 in constant alignment with cylinder 17. Ring 11 forms a bayonet type joint with disc 14 as illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7. This bayonet joint is obtained by providing disc 14 with a flange 24. Ring 11 forms a sliding fit with flange 24. Two pins 25 and 26 are provided on flange 24 and two slots 27 and 28 are also provided in ring 11 which form a bayonet joint.

The operation of the gun illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 8 is as follows: the push rod 20 and piston 18 are first placed into the position illustrated in FIG. 2 and barrel 10 of the gun, and especially its open end 29 is brought to the proximity of a fish to be caught with the aid of the gun. Pump 16 is then manually operated which creates sufiiciently strong water current which flows through barrel 10 past chamber 12, whereupon the water is sucked into the gun into cylinder 17, and with this current conveys fish 30 into cylinder 17. Barrel 10 and chamber 12 are then rotated from the position illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3, and 5 to the position illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 7, at which time barrel 10 becomes closed off by disc 14 as illustrated in FIG. 7, and orifice 31 in disc 14 connects cylinder 17 with chamber 11. The pump then is operated once more into the position illustrated in FIG. 4 with piston 18 being in its inner position, with the result that the caught fish 30 now is transferred from cylinder 17 into chamber 12in the manner illustrated in FIG. 4.

All water which enters cylinder 17 at the time the gun is in the position illustrated in FIG. 3 is expelled from cylinder 17 into chamber 12 and it leaves chamber 12 through orifices 15 at the time fish 30 is transferred from cylinder 17 to chamber 12.

The gun is then ready for the next cycle of operation, which is obtained by again rotating chamber 12 around flange 24 into the position illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 5, at which time barrel 10 is in alignment with orifices 31.

FIGURES 9 through 12 illustrate another version of the gun in which the pump piston is operated by a stretching rubber tube which forms power for operating the gun. Therefore, the gun illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 11 is a power operated gun as differentiated from the manually operated gun illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 8. In all other respects the gun illustrated in FIGS. 9 through 11 is identical to that illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 8. Therefore, the construction of the barrel and of the central storage chamber in FIGS. 1 through 8 and FIGS. 9 through 11 is identical and needs no additional description. The only difference is in the pump, the construction of which is as follows: the pump is provided with a cylinder 900, a piston 901 having two discs 902 and 903, each provided with rings 904 and 905 and a central ring 906. Disc 902 is provided With an opening 907 which is used for passing through this opening a rubber tube 910, the inner end of this rubber tube 910 being fastened to the inner disc 903 of the piston by means of a bolt 1300 having a nut 1301 and a ball 1302 which is inserted into tube 910 in the manner illustrated in FIG. 13. A ring 1303 is then clamped over the outer end of the rubber tube 910 in the manner also shown in FIG. 13. In the other, outer, end of tube 910, ball 1302 is provided with a loop 912 and a string 913 being attached to loop 912, this string being provided with a loop 914 and a knot 915. String 913 passes through an opening 916 in a slot 917 in a cap 918. Normally when the gun is in use, knot 915 engages slot 917 and thus connects elastomeric tube 910 to cap 917 with knot 915 engaging slot 917. The elastomeric tube 910 always remains in a taut position even when tube 920 is in its inward position, illustrated in FIG. 9. In order to store tube 910 in a completely relaxed position, knot 915 is taken from its engagement with slot 917 and passed through an orifice 916 which releases the tension in tube 910. Hollow tube 920, connected to cap 918, is provided with bosses 921 and 922 which are used for holding tube 920 in the position illustrated in FIG. 10. This is the position when tube 920 is withdrawn to its extreme outer position, at which time bosses 921 and 922 pass through two corresponding slots 923 and 924 in a disc 925 which closes the outer end of cylinder 900. A trigger mechanism 926 is also provided with a trigger 927 and a latch 928 actuated by trigger 927. Latch 928 is used for holding piston 901 in its inward position, illustrated in FIG. 9, at the time it is pushed into this position by means of the hollow push rod 920. Piston 901 engages latch 928 and is prevented from outward movement by latch 928 when the push rod 920 is withdrawn from cylinder 900 in the manner illustrated in FIG. 10, and then turned 90 to place two bosses 922 and 921 into engagement with disc 925 which thus holds rod 920 tightly engaged against disc 925 and rubber tube 910 fully stretched in the manner also indicated in FIG. 10. The gun is then ready for firing by pressing on pin 927 which withdraws latch 928 from engagement with disc 903 of piston 901, whereupon piston 901 travels with relatively high speed to its outward position, illustrated in FIG. 11, until it finally engages the inner end of the push rod, or tube, 920, whereupon its travel is stopped. Piston 901 produces suction in tube and the resulting water current traps fish 30 in the same manner as in FIGS. 1 through 8. Fish 30 is then transferred to chamber 12 by moving piston 901 into its inward position with the aid of the push rod 920 after first turning rod 920 90 so that bosses 921 and 922 would pass through slots 923 and 924 in disc 925. After transfer of fish 30 into chamber 12, chamber 12 is again turned into alignment with the orifices 31, the elastomeric tube 910 again stretched into its position illustrated in FIG. 10, whereupon the gun is ready for use once again. This process can be repeated any desired number of times as long as there is sufiicient amount of room left in chamber 12 for transferring marine life from cylinder 900 into chamber 12.

Referring to FIGS. 14 through 20, these figures illustrate an additional version of the gun in which barrel 1400 is rotatably mounted in a tube 1401. Tube 1401 is rigidly mounted in a storage chamber cylinder 1402. Barrel 1400 and tube 1401 are provided with orifices 1403 and 1404 which are aligned with each other in the manner indicated in FIG. 14, or placed out of alignment with each other as illustrated in FIG. 15. Storage chamber cylinder 1402 slidably engages a flange 1405 and is provided with the same type of bayonet joint with flange 1405 as that in the gun of FIGS. 1 through 8. The pump piston 1406 is provided with a rubber tube 1407 which is fastened to the front end 1408 of the piston by means of a bolt 1409. The outer end of rubber tube 1407 is fastened to string 1410 and the outer end of string 1410 is provided with a handle 1411. String 1410 is also provided with a knot 1412 which is used for holding rubber tube 1407 in a stretched position, illustrated in FIG. 15, by means of a slot 1413. The end of this slot is illustrated in FIG. 20. Cylinder 1414 of the pump is provided with an end, cross-shaped plate 1415 which acts as a support for string 1410 when the latter is placed in a taut position illustrated in FIG. 15. A trigger mechanism 1416 is used for holding the piston in a cocked position illustrated in FIG. 15.

The operation of the gun illustrated in FIGS. 14 through 20 is as follows: piston 1406 is placed into its cocked position by merely swishing the gun in water while string 1410 is free to slide through an orifice 1420 in the cross member 1415. When the gun is swished in a direction of an arrow 1421, illustrated in FIG. 15, water rushes into cylinder 1414 and exerts pressure on the back of piston 1406 thus pushing it into an inward position within cylinder 1414. At the same time water from barrel 1400 rushes out of the barrel and exerts a negative pressure, or suction, on the front end of head 1408 of the piston, with the result that the piston at once clicks into the cocked position illustrated in FIG. 15, at which time it engages latch 1425 of the trigger mechanism 1416, in the manner indicated in FIG. 14. Handle 1411 is then used for stretching the rubber tube 1407 into a taut position illustrated in FIG. 15. It is to be understood that at this moment barrel 1400 is in the position illustrated in FIG. 15, at which time orifices 1403 and 1404 are out of alignment as illustrated in FIG. 15. Therefore, the central storage chamber cylinder 1402 is closed off from barrel 1400, and, swishing of the gun in the direction of an arrow 1421 does not have any effect on the water filling chamber 1402. The gun is then ready for use which is accomplished by releasing trigger 1429. Barrel 1400 is then turned into the position illustrated in FIG. 15, at which time orifices 1404 and 1403 become aligned with each other. String 1410 and its knot 1412 are then released from slot 1415 by passing knot 1412 through orifice 1420 which releases the string and tube 1407 for the return of the piston into its inward position. This is again obtained by swishing the gun in the direction of an arrow 1421 while the open end 1432 of barrel 1400 is held closed so as to allow water filling cylinder 1414 now to flow into chamber 1402 and out of chamber 1402 through a plurality of orifices or openings 1434 and thus transferring the trapped marine life from cylinder 1414 into chamber 1402. It is to be noted that orifices 1403 and 1404 now exert a negative pressure or suction on the water contained in chamber 1402 because of the swishing of the gun. And it is for this reason that the water trapped in cylinder 1414 will flow from cylinder 1414 into barrel 1400 whose front end is now closed, and then from barrel 1432 into chamber 1402 and from chamber 1402 out through orifices 1405 until equilibrium is restored upon the completion of the backward swish which simultaneously returns piston 1406 into its cocked position and also transfers the caught marine life into chamber 1402. The process then can be repeated the desired number of times. The fish is removed from the chamber in all of the above arrangements by disconnecting the chamber from the pump in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 8.

What I claim is:

1. A suction gun comprising a barrel in front of said gun, a storage chamber in the middle of said gun, and a pump having a pump cylinder at the other end of said gun, said barrel, chamber, and pump being aligned with each other and being connected in series with each other, said chamber comprising a cylindrical member having front and rear discs and a cylindrical wall between said discs, said cylindrical Wall being connected to said front disc, said front disc being provided with a first orifice and said second disc being provided with a second orifice, said second orifice interconnecting said chamber with the cylinder of said pump, said barrel passing through said first orifice and terminating at said rear disc, and a rotary joint between said cylindrical wall of said chamber and said rear disc first for aligning said barrel with said second orifice when said gun is used as a suction gun and then turning said barrel away from said second orifice for hydraulically connecting said pump cylinder with said chamber for transferring from said pump cylinder into said chamber aquatic life sucked into said pump cylinder during the suction cycle of said pump.

2. A suction gun comprising a barrel, a storage chamber and a pump, said barrel, chamber, and pump being aligned with each other and being connected in series with each other, said barrel extending through said chamber and normally opening into said pump, said gun having means first to suck aquatic life into said pump and then transferring said life from said pump into said chamber, a manually operated valve having first and second positions, said valve including said barrel; said barrel, when manually turned to said first position, hydraulically connecting said barrel directly with said pump; and said barrel, when manually turned to said second position, connecting said pump to said chamber.

3. The suction gun as defined in claim 2 in which said manually operated valve includes a tube passing through said chamber and surrounding said barrel, said barrel forming a sliding engagement with said tube, said barrel and said tube being provided with first and second alignable orifices in said tube and said barrel, respectively.

4. The suction gun as defined in claim 2 in which said pump includes a pump cylinder, a piston, an elastomeric member attached with its inner end to said piston, a rigid tube extending through the greater portion of said pump cylinder so as to abut against said piston when said tube and said piston are both in the inward position and projecting outwardly with its outer end beyond said cylinder, said elastomeric member extending through the length of said tube and being connected to the outer end of said tube, trigger means having a latch for said piston for locking said piston in the inward position in said pump cylinder, and manually operated means for locking said rigid tube in a substantially withdrawn position from said pump cylinder for stretching said elastomeric member through the lengths of said pump cylinder and said tube for exerting a pulling force on said piston against the piston locking latch.

5. A suction gun for trapping aquatic life, said gun comprising a barrel at the front end of the gun, a storage chamber at the central portion of the gun and a pump at the rear end of the gun; saidpump having means for operating said pump in a forward direction for producing suction in and through said barrel, and in the reverse direction for expelling water from said pump; said barrel having a front open end and a rear open end opening directly into said pump, a tube along the length of said storage chamber surrounding said barrel, said barrel forming a sliding engagement with said tube, said barrel and said tube being provided with first and second orifices in said barrel and in said tube, respectively, first misalignable with respect to each other for connecting said barrel With said pump and then alignable with respect to each other to form an opening between said barrel and said chamber, for transferring into said chamber any aquatic life trapped in said pump by closing off the front end of said barrel and by operating said pump in the reverse direction.

6. A suction gun comprising a barrel, a centrally located storage chamber and a pump, said storage chamber comprising front and rear side discs and a cylindrical wall interconnecting said first and second discs, said cylindrical wall having front and rear edges, said front edge being aifixed to said front disc and said rear edge forming a sliding bayonet type joint with said rear disc, said first disc being provided with a Ifirst orifice and said second disc being provided with a second orifice, said barrel passing through said first orifice and terminating at the inner surface of said second disc, whereby said barrel passes through said chamber, said pump having a pump cylinder and a piston in said pump cylinder, said pump cylinder being connected to said second disc in alignment with said second orifice, means for operating said pump piston in the first direction, from the inner position to the outer position of said piston in said cylinder, for creating a suction through said barrel when said barrel, with the aid of said bayonet type joint, is aligned with said cylinder and for operating said piston in the reverse direction, after said barrel, said first disc and said cylindrical wall are rotated as a unit for removing said barrel away from said second orifice, for expelling water from said pump cylinder into said chamber to transfer aquatic life from said pump cylinder into said chamber through said second orifice.

FRANCIS R. CHAPPELL, ABRAHAM G. STONE,

Examiners. 

1. A SUCTION GUN COMPRISING A BARREL IN FRONT OF SAID GUN, A STORAGE CHAMBER IN THE MIDDLE OF SAID GUN, AND A PUMP HAVING A PUMP CYLINDER AT THE OTHER END OF SAID GUN, SAID BARREL, CHAMBER, AND PUMP BEING ALIGNED WITH EACH OTHER AND BEING CONNECTED IN SERIES WITH EACH OTHER, SAID CHAMBER COMPRISING A CYLINDRICAL MEMBER HAVING FRONT AND REAR DISC AND A CYLIDRICAL WALL BETWEEN SAID DISCS, SAID CYLINDRICAL WALL BEING CONNECTED TO SAID FRONT DISC, SAID FRONT DISC BEING PROVIDED WITH A FIRST ORIGICE AND SAID SECOND DISC BEING PROVIDED WITH A SECOND ORIFICE, SAID SECOND ORIFICE INTERCONNECTING SAID CHAMBER WITH THE CYLINDER OF SAID PUMP, SAID BARREL PASSING THROUGH SAID FIRST ORIFICE AND TERMINATING AT SAID REAR DISC, AND A ROTARY JOINT BETWEEN SAID CYLINDRICAL WALL OF SAID CHAMBER AND SAID REAR DISC FIRST FOR ALIGNING SAID BARREL WITH SAID SECOND ORIFICE WHEN SAID GUN IS USED AS A SUCTION GUN AND THEN TURNING SAID BARREL AWAY FROM SAID SECOND ORIFICE FOR HYDRAULICALLY CONNECTING SAID PUMP CYLINDER WITH SAID CHAMBER FOR TRANSFERRING FROM SAID PUMP CYLINDER WITH SAID SAID CHAMBER AQUATIC LIFE SUCKED INTO SAID PUMP CYLINDER DURING THE SUCTION CYCLE OF SAID PUMP. 